From Commitment to Action: Policies to End Violence Against Women in Latin America and the Caribbean. Regional Analysis Document With the support of In the framework of UNDP and UN Women, UN House, City of Knowledge, Building 128, P.O. Box 0816-1914 Panama. From Commitment to Action: http://www.latinamerica.undp.org http://lac.unwomen.org/es Policies to End Violence Against Women in Latin America and © 2017 UNDP, UN WOMEN ALL RIGHTS RESERVED the Caribbean. ISBN 978-9962-688-38-9 United Nations Development Programme, UNDP Regional Analysis Document Regional Center for Latin America and the Caribbean United Nations Entity for Gender equality and Women Empowerment, UN Women Author: Sebastián Essayag Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean Edition and publication: Nuria López Design: Maisa Ferro Edition and publication: Panama, 2017 Technical coordination: Eugenia Piza-López, The analysis and recommendations in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of the Adriana Quiñones y Esperanza Franco Rodríguez United Nations Development Programme, UN Women, the United Nations, its Member States or Coordination: Esperanza Franco Rodríguez affiliated organizations. This document was produced by the regional directorates for UNDP and ISBN 978-9962-688-38-9 UN Women Latin America and the Caribbean. The authors of this report would like to warmly acknowledge the photographical contributions made by those listed below. Cover page: © UNDP Costa Rica © UNDP Peru Page 10: © UNDP Costa Rica Page 14: © UNDP Brasil Page 30: © UNDP Haiti Page 42: © UNDP Honduras Page 46: © UNDP Peru Page 56: © UNDP Guatemala Page 72: © UNDP Peru Page 80: © UNDP Paraguay Inside back cover: © UNDP Haiti 2 3 From Commitment to Action: Policies to End Violence Against Women in Latin America and the Caribbean America in Latin Women Against Violence End to Action: Policies to Commitment From This publication was produced by the United Nations Development Programme, (UNDP) and the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women, (UN Women). In memory of Carmen de la Cruz The report identifies the progress made in institutional approaches to tackling violence against women in the region and will contribute to the knowledge base on implementation of national On behalf of UNDP and UN Women, we want to use the space provided by this policies and plans and will be an important resource for many countries in the process of formu- joint publication to honor the memory of Carmen de la Cruz, who left an immense lating, implementing and evaluating their own public policies and plans. It additionally presents legacy during her work in both agencies and an indelible mark on the people who promising experiences developed by some states in the areas of prevention; care; punishment; and worked with her. reparation of violence against women and provides recommendations to address the critical bottle- necks persisting in responses to violence against women in the region. Throughout her life, Carmen have been a strong advocate for women’s rights, gen- der equality and human development. She had more than 20 years of working The report is based on responses from 33 countries to a questionnaire oriented toward the national experience in development cooperation and humanitarian action in conflict and mechanisms for women’s advancement and bilateral interviews with some of their representatives, post-conflict contexts in Africa, the Middle East and Latin America. carried out during 2014 and 2015, in addition to revision of secondary sources of information. The countries that contributed to the research are: Antigua and Barbuda; Argentina; Bahamas; Barbados; Between 2003 and 2006, she served as Latin American Adviser to the UNIFEM Peace Belize; Plurinational state of Bolivia; Brazil; Chile; Colombia; Costa Rica; Cuba; Dominica; Ecuador; El and Security Programme and during that period she was part of the technical team Salvador; Grenada; Guatemala; Guyana; Haiti; Honduras; Jamaica; Mexico; Nicaragua; Panama; Para- that implemented the human rights approach in the United Nations Agencies and guay; Peru; Dominican Republic; Saint Kitts and Nevis; Saint Vincent and the Grenadines; Saint Lucia; their counterparts in Colombia. The important task of Carmen in Colombia allowed Suriname; Trinidad and Tobago; Uruguay; and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. to lay the foundations of UNIFEM work, the entity that preceded UN Women, in peace and security themes with a gender perspective. In this position, she helped We are grateful for the important support from public institutions, social organizations and aca- to make visible the differential impact of the conflict on women and their key role demic centres that offered valuable information for the production of this report. In particular, we in the construction of peace. would like to acknowledge the support and interest from the mechanisms for the advancement of women in the 33 Latin American and Caribbean countries that were subject to the research, without Demonstrating her enormous commitment to women’s rights, she also contrib- which the study would not have taken place. uted to the inclusion of the gender approach in UN agencies, such as the RBLAC Regional Center in Panama, as Team Leader for the Gender Cluster. From 2009 to The lead researcher for this study was Sebastian Essayag. The technical coordination team was com- 2013, she worked intensively on gender issues, leaving an immense legacy of in- prised of Eugenia Piza-López, Head of the Gender Area of UNDP Regional Centre LAC; Adriana Qui- novative and relevant policies to the entire region. During her work with UNDP, she ñones, Regional Advisor on Ending Gender Violence Against Women in the UN Women Regional also contributed to the production of knowledge through the development of key Office for Latin America and the Caribbean; and Esperanza Franco Rodriguez, UNDP Citizen Security works such as “Gender, Rights and Human Development”. and Gender Specialist. Esperanza Franco Rodriguez coordinated this process with support from Lo- rena Mellado, UNDP Citizen Security Programme Analyst. We will remember Carmen de la Cruz as an extraordinary woman whose work has been essential for the advancement of women’s rights in Latin America and the Special thanks to the external experts who reviewed this document, Alejandra Valdés, Coordinator Caribbean and in the world. for the Gender Equality Observatory for Latin America and the Caribbean in the ECLAC Gender Af- fairs Division and Ana Carcedo, President, Feminist Centre for Information and Action CEFEMINA. We are additionally appreciative for the collaboration of UNDP and UN Women colleagues, especial- ly Rebeca Arias, UN Resident Coordinator/UNDP Resident Representative in Guatemala and Chris- tine Arab, UN Women Multi-Country representative for the Caribbean. At the UNDP Regional Centre for Latin America and the Caribbean, we are grateful to Daniel Luz, Regional Citizen Security Advisor; Juliet Solomon, Citizen Security Specialist for the Caribbean; and Malena Botello, Associate for Gen- der Programmes. We are also appreciative for the collaboration of Neus Bernabeu, Gender and Youth Regional Advisor at the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) y Nuria Lopez. Finally, we are grateful to the gender and citizen security focal points in UNDP Country Offices and the UN Women focal points on ending violence against women in the region, who reviewed the national reports prior to the preparation of this report. 4 5 From Commitment to Action: Policies to End Violence Against Women in Latin America and the Caribbean America in Latin Women Against Violence End to Action: Policies to Commitment From Foreword Despite the bold advances in response to violence against women and girls in Latin American and The weakness of the coordination mechanisms, technical capacities and information systems; the Caribbean States, this scourge continues to pose a serious threat to human rights, public health, lack of coherence between legal instruments and policies; and the insufficient allocation of finan- citizen security and physical, political and economic autonomy of women in the region. The levels cial resources are some of the critical bottlenecks that hinder the achievement of better results in of violence against women faced in Latin America and the Caribbean are unacceptable. The region public actions. The magnitude of the problem requires states to take a more holistic insti- has the highest rate of non-couples related sexual violence in the world and the second highest rate tutional approach; more comprehensive and with more resources. of violence by partners or ex-partners (WHO, 2013); 3 of the 10 countries with the highest rates of violence against women and girls are in the Caribbean (Caribbean HDR, UNDP, 2012); and the most UNDP’s Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean, in coordination with the Regional Of- radical expression of this violence, femicide/feminicide, is taking on a devastating magnitude and fice for the Americas and the Caribbean of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the trend in Central America, where 2 in every 3 women murdered, are killed because of their gender Empowerment of Women, UN Women, have decided to promote this research within the frame- (Central America HDR, UNDP, 2009). work of the Secretary General’s Campaign “Unite to End Violence Against Women”. With the new Sustainable Development Goals Agenda (SDGs) and the 2030 development agenda, In addition to presenting